


Peach Fuzz

by hyuckedoff



Category: NCT (Band), We Go Up - NCT Dream (Music Video)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Boys Being Boys, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Rarepair, Summer, i got sad ok, kissin n stuff, mark loves the 80s, markren, renjun is a lil liar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-18 21:47:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20198686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyuckedoff/pseuds/hyuckedoff
Summary: Again, it’s too short and then the song ends, crickets applauding and lightning bugs swaying around in a dance of their own.Mark gives Renjun that look again. Tight smile and sympathetic eyes and it hurts to look into them.“I don’t want to go.”





	Peach Fuzz

“Turn left right here,”  
“Gotcha,”  
Mark replies over the music that nearly vibrates his busted truck- everything being old and tattered except for the nearly brand new radio.  
Renjun hums at the reply and leans against the passenger seat window and lets the setting sun and shadows dance across his face. He shrugs at himself and looks over at the boy with one hand on the wheel and the other tapping along to some song that always seems to be playing.  
“What’s this called again?” He asks and Mark responds with no hesitation and holds the boy's hand across the center console.  
“‘I Want To Break Free’. Y'know, for as long as I've been answering this, you seem to always forget when I tell you.” He smiles and rubs his thumb on the back of his hand.  
“Maybe I actually know and I just like hearing your voice.” Renjun raises his eyebrows and Mark laughs, cherry slushie stained lips curved into a smile as his eyes flicker to the smaller and then back onto the road.  
It was a little too easy. Red ears and prominent cheekbones even more so now with the slightest compliment.  
It was all a little too easy, a little too simple. Something so simple, so mundane, that it felt too precious to actually think about without a palpitating heart and smile lines drilled into your face.  
“You can turn left here,” Mark squeezes his hand, the rings on his fingers make it a little uncomfortable but its all Renjun wants to feel right now.  
All summer, it was the same formula: the lanky boy picks him up from his house in his sickly blue truck with a dumb smile and takes him wherever. The Lee house was the normal spot, but sometimes it was the gas station, some fair that came into town, or to some rich Aunt’s house that had a nice inground pool and a refrigerator that dispenses ice; no matter the place, it ended the same. Sun setting, all green stoplights, no traffic, Queen songs rolling on one after another. Fast. too fast. Way too fucking fast.  
And maybe that's why Renjun is in the predicament he's in now. Telling little white lies to his boyfriend. He shrugs again.  
“Another left.” Mark scrunches his eyebrows but does as he's told.  
“Will you listen to anything besides Queen?”  
“I listen to the radio-”  
“No, I mean listen- like, _actually_ listen.” Renjun leans closer to Mark’s side of the car and cocks his head to the side. Mark hums in thought and the crease in his brow grows deeper in thought and he chews on his chapped bottom lip.__  
“Poison?”  
“Poison,” Renjun repeats flatly and Mark chuckles.  
“It’s good, I promise just let me-” He half-hazardly reaches for the glove box, effectively swerving the car a bit as well as getting the department open.  
“'Fucking Christ Mark, I could have done that, ” Albums fall into Renjuns lap as he laughs and Mark successfully grabs the one he's looking for.  
“Open this for me? Track eight.” The younger nods and does as he's told with upturned eyes.  
The song starts and Renjun groans.  
“Mark Lee, this is a sad song, you prick.” Mark laughs and shakes his head.  
“No, it's not sad, its real-world stuff.”  
“ ‘Real-world stuff’ Mark it’s SAD- this sucks.”  
“I’ll have you know, Every Rose Has Its Thorn was number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 in the ’80s,” Mark informs and Renjun sighs as he tries to get the multiple albums scattered on his lap and some under his seat together.  
He goes through them silently and tells Mark to take another left.  
Abba, Dokken, Motley Crue, Rush- purely oldies Renjun has only heard of in passing and seen on one of the shirts he's stolen from the boy.  
“You know, I’m pretty sure you know your way to your house but... We’ve been going in circles for the last ten minutes.” Mark says as they finally hit a red light. Renjun shrugs.  
“It's a new way home I found.”  
“You did that thing. You're lying.”  
“What are you talking about?” Mark sighs and shakes his head. Renjun turns to look out the window to hide the redness of his face, annoying.  
“I mean, you could use the usual route, I guess.” He mumbles into his sleeve, still refusing to look at the other.  
“Okay, babe.”  
It only takes one song to bring them to Renjun’s house and that kind of utterly sucks.  
Mark puts the truck in park, sighs, and glances at the boy beside him with his head still leaning on the window.  
They both kind of know how this ends. Routine.  
Mark looks down, and like he always does in the same clumsy way, he leans in to kiss the boy but is stopped by two fingers poking his forehead back.  
“Play another song.” Renjun directs, looking away as always and Mark huffs out a small laugh before nodding.  
“One last song.”  
True to his word, he plays a hymn that only seems to blend into the background. Small smiles and shy looks impishly given to one another as they try to focus on the last minute of sunshine and not on stupid butterflies and sparks gifted by linking pinkies together.  
Again, it’s too short and then the song ends, crickets applauding and lightning bugs swaying around in a dance of their own.  
Mark gives Renjun that look again. Tight smile and sympathetic eyes and it _hurts_ to look into them.__  
“I don’t want to go.” He cups Mark’s face in his small hands and looks at him pensively.  
“ I’ll see you on Friday-“  
“We only have two weeks and then you’re gone.”  
Mark sighs at the fact and covers Renjun’s hands with his own.  
“I know, I know.”  
“You act like we have all the time in the world but- Mark, every day is over before I can even fucking-”  
The older kisses him and takes the boy’s hands fully in his. He pulls back for a moment and rests his forehead on Renjun's  
“ I’ll be gone for only five months.”  
“Five months is a lifetime. I’m going to die.” Renjun pulls away and crosses his arms and tries to focus on something across the street.  
“You’ll have some of my shirts, my CDs, my number, you'll see my face,”  
“But I won’t have you, Mark.”  
The elder sighs and unbuckles his seatbelt and gets out to open the passenger sides door.  
“And _I_ won’t have you.” He says with a bitter quirk of the lips and unbuckles the boy's seatbelt.__  
Renjun mumbles something about being able to unbuckle himself and gets out of the car.  
He knows that he should stop moping; stop making this harder for both of them and accept the near future. But the way his heart screams in utter distress and pushes against his ribcage at the thought of not having Mark for exactly 138 days makes him do the complete opposite.  
No more late-night knocks on his window followed by muffled giggles and conspiracy talk, no more midnight drives to shady convenience stores with the clerk who was a little too into Wicca, no more movie critique nights, no more sweaty hand-holding, no more awkward, lovesick glances, no more clumsy kisses, no more hugs, and god-  
Mark walks Renjun to his door and breathes out into the still-warm air.  
“I guess-”  
“Keep it short.” Renjun cuts in; he looks up at the taller and back to the ground with lips pursed. The words come out rough- many things have these past few days, but Mark understands.  
Well, that's what Renjun tells himself as he sees the boy smile, albeit sadly.  
It's a little too much. Renjun has always been emotional- always have been, always will, but even if he accepts this himself, the hot tears that crave to make an appearance are ignored as he’s pulled into a hug. His own form squished against the others and the telltale deep yet delicate cologne that infiltrates his senses makes him weak in the knees and his throat feel constricted. Mark squeezes him closer and plants a quick kiss to his head,  
“I love you, you know.” Renjun knows, he definitely knows.  
“I.. I like you a lot too.”  
Mark chuckles at the response and pulls back to kiss the boy on the cheek and interlaces their hands. It's progress.  
“Mark, you're dragging it out,” Renjun states and slowly drags his hands away, feeling significantly colder even on a night like this. Mark exhales and hesitates before bringing his own into the pockets of his hoodie.  
“So, I’ll see you soon?”  
“Yeah, soon.”  
It’s an underwhelming goodbye, Renjun knows and absolutely _detests_ it with every fiber of his being.__  
Proper goodbyes make the heart ache more, makes it grow fonder and curious of the feelings being thrusted at the boy.  
But so does watching the older boy make his way back to his car, giving quick and obvious glances back to the younger. Renjun shakes his head and opens the front door to his house without a second glance, but instead with bated breath and a hazy head. With Mark, everything seemed inevitable.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm rusty! and procrastinated for many a time just to come back with angst!  
Please do comment and tell me how lazy i am


End file.
